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Testing prayer : science and healing / Candy Gunther Brown.

By: Material type: TextTextPublication details: Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2012.Description: 1 online resource (x, 372 pages) : illustrationsContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780674069718
  • 0674069714
  • 9780674064867
  • 0674064860
Subject(s): Additional physical formats: Print version:: Testing prayer.DDC classification:
  • 234/.131 23
LOC classification:
  • BR1644.7 .B76 2012eb
Other classification:
  • online - EBSCO
Online resources:
Contents:
Introduction : the magisteria of science and religion -- From Toronto Blessing to global awakening : healing and the spread of Pentecostal-Charismatic networks -- Why are biomedical tests of prayer controversial? -- Are healing claims documented? -- How do sufferers perceive healing prayer? -- Can health outcomes of prayer be measured? -- Do healing experiences produce lasting effects? -- Conclusion : what science can show about prayer.
Summary: Drawing on medical records, surveys of prayer recipients, prospective clinical trials, and multiyear follow-up observations and interviews, Brown shows that the widespread perception of prayer's healing power has demonstrable social effects which can in some cases produce improvements in health that can be scientifically verified.Summary: When sickness strikes, people around the world pray for healing. Many of the faithful claim that prayer has cured them of blindness, deafness, and metastasized cancers, and some believe they have been resurrected from the dead. Can, and should, science test such claims? A number of scientists say no, concerned that empirical studies of prayer will be misused to advance religious agendas. And some religious practitioners agree with this restraint, worrying that scientific testing could undermine faith. In Candy Gunther Brown's view, science cannot prove prayer's healing power, but what scientists can and should do is study prayer's measurable effects on health. If prayer produces benefits, even indirectly (and findings suggest that it does), then more careful attention to prayer practices could impact global health, particularly in places without access to conventional medicine. Drawing on data from Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians, Brown reverses a number of stereotypes about believers in faith-healing. Among them is the idea that poorer, less educated people are more likely to believe in the healing power of prayer and therefore less likely to see doctors. Brown finds instead that people across socioeconomic backgrounds use prayer alongside conventional medicine rather than as a substitute. Dissecting medical records from before and after prayer, surveys of prayer recipients, prospective clinical trials, and multiyear follow-up observations and interviews, she shows that the widespread perception of prayer's healing power has demonstrable social effects, and that in some cases those effects produce improvements in health that can be scientifically verified.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction : the magisteria of science and religion -- From Toronto Blessing to global awakening : healing and the spread of Pentecostal-Charismatic networks -- Why are biomedical tests of prayer controversial? -- Are healing claims documented? -- How do sufferers perceive healing prayer? -- Can health outcomes of prayer be measured? -- Do healing experiences produce lasting effects? -- Conclusion : what science can show about prayer.

Print version record.

Drawing on medical records, surveys of prayer recipients, prospective clinical trials, and multiyear follow-up observations and interviews, Brown shows that the widespread perception of prayer's healing power has demonstrable social effects which can in some cases produce improvements in health that can be scientifically verified.

When sickness strikes, people around the world pray for healing. Many of the faithful claim that prayer has cured them of blindness, deafness, and metastasized cancers, and some believe they have been resurrected from the dead. Can, and should, science test such claims? A number of scientists say no, concerned that empirical studies of prayer will be misused to advance religious agendas. And some religious practitioners agree with this restraint, worrying that scientific testing could undermine faith. In Candy Gunther Brown's view, science cannot prove prayer's healing power, but what scientists can and should do is study prayer's measurable effects on health. If prayer produces benefits, even indirectly (and findings suggest that it does), then more careful attention to prayer practices could impact global health, particularly in places without access to conventional medicine. Drawing on data from Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians, Brown reverses a number of stereotypes about believers in faith-healing. Among them is the idea that poorer, less educated people are more likely to believe in the healing power of prayer and therefore less likely to see doctors. Brown finds instead that people across socioeconomic backgrounds use prayer alongside conventional medicine rather than as a substitute. Dissecting medical records from before and after prayer, surveys of prayer recipients, prospective clinical trials, and multiyear follow-up observations and interviews, she shows that the widespread perception of prayer's healing power has demonstrable social effects, and that in some cases those effects produce improvements in health that can be scientifically verified.

In English.